Classroom Reports

Foundation & One

Last Thursday our classroom was invaded by 209 rubber ducks. Early Thursday morning Mr Forrest set about placing all these ducks in our room. Children found them in the most unusual places. We are so glad we did not have 209 real ducks!  But we do have an incubator with 12 duck eggs. Thanks to Evie's family for setting this up. Evie's mum has also made a Power Point so we can learn each day what stage the ducks are up to. On day 12 the ducks have started to grow their first feathers and egg tooth. We can't wait until March 28th- Hatch day!

Mrs Chalmers, Classroom Teacher

Years 1 &  2

Our palaeontologists are continuing to research dinosaurs and discover how scientists decided what dinosaurs may have looked like by the skeletons they found.

Our prehistoric class pets (aqua dragons or sea monkeys) have now hatched and are growing. Apparently they were around in the dinosaur times!

In Maths this week we are learning to estimate and round numbers.

Well done to the students that are reading every night. Every week in Year 2, a list of the sounds and tricky words are stuck in the diaries for you to practise. Occasionally a spelling sheet will be sent home to reinforce classroom learning. This is not compulsory but does help to practise spelling patterns.

Mrs McKenzie and Ms Martin, Classroom Teachers

Year 3

From directed drawing to School Photos. What a fortnight it has been. We have settled into a class routine and know what we need to do to be ready to learn. 

We have  learnt about Sunlight and its effects on coloured paper and how it is actually not white. Please ask you children what they found out with their experiements. We also had the priveledge to meet out school pets. 

Congratulations needs to go to our Class MVP -Floss.  Remember out motto Effort is Everything. 

Thanks Everyone 

Mrs Torney, Classroom Teacher

Year 4

Our class enjoyed participating in the school swimming carnival.  It was awesome to see our whole class at school, dressed up in their house colours and participate in events on the day!! Great work Year 4s!! 

Our Mathematics groups have seen us continue to explore place value including four digit numbers, different ways to show numbers using MAB, writing numbers in words – all helping us to discover the importance of place value! 

We have been exploring the effects of coastal erosion on Australia and the ways that erosion on the coastlines of Australia can be best controlled. We explored how water can cause erosion more locally and students have done an amazing job at reflecting on times when they have seen that erosion has happened around them! 

Year 4 students have been showing their commitment to their learning, being engaged in what’s going on in the classroom and working hard on completing their SMART Spelling and reading at home.  We can’t wait to see what is in store for us next! 

Miss Anderson, Classroom Teacher

Years 5 & 6 

This week Miss Douglas and Mrs Turnbull found themselves in a bit of a pickle and called upon the trusty 5/6 students for help. 

Students needed to:

-estimate how many lolly snakes were in their collection 

-count and record the actual number of lolly snakes in their collection-represent their snakes in a spinner, collecting the data for the colour of snake that has the least chance of coming up and the most chance of coming up, along with what groups of colours were equally likely 

-use tally marks to record the colour of quantity of their collection of snakes

-and finally represent this data in a bar graph

Fantastic discussion was held between students using the chance language of ‘likely, impossible, even chance and certain’ to describe which colour of snake would come up if we spun the snake spinner.

Students presented their data in bar graphs, pie charts and tally marks to show their understanding of chance and probability. We are a few snakes short this afternoon, but worth the smiles on the students’ faces (and the knowledge gained!).

Mrs Turnbull 5/6B and Miss Douglas 5/6 A, Classroom Teachers

Year 5/6 B 

Well done to all of our students who were able to participate in the school swimming sports! It was great to see you dressed up in your colours, cheering for your team mates. 

The students have been working through the 'Iron Man' literacy task and they have enjoyed creating their own characters. We have seen some very creative sculptures and it is always fun to engage in some hands on learning. 

Well done to those students who returned their spelling words and a reminder to complete your homework so you can continue to improve. Students returning their homework receive a green chronicle. The new Burn Bank has just been launched... so a fantastic incentive to hand your spelling sheets in! Students are also learning about 'time' in maths. Telling the time is a great skill to practise at home with your family and as we all decided in class, it is a skill we use everyday. Students will be gradually working towards calculating elapsed time.

We are excited that the School Fete is not too far away, with the half way point of Term 1 behind us. We look forward to seeing you all there at the Grade 5/6 activity. 

Mrs Postle, Classroom Teacher

Year 8

There have been a lot of positive things happening in the Year 8 Space this past fortnight. 

• We had 100% attendance at our Swimming Sports meaning all year 8 students are eligible for a free lunch!
• Our SRC Representatives were elected and received their badges at a presentation with Mr Forrest. Congratulations to Lucy, Aidan and Jaimee. We know you will represent our class well.
• Year 8 students led the way in week 5 for Green Compass Chronicles, Burn Bucks and Gotcha Cards. We collected 101 in total throughout week 5! More than any other class in the entire school! Great job displaying our expected behaviours. 
• We know the importance of consistent attendance and how beneficial this is to our learning. Well done to Year 8s for achieving 98% attendance across the first 5 weeks of the school year. This is the best attendance across any homeroom. Keep it up and remember: Every Day Counts! 

Miss Moody, Mr Pettifer and Mr Monaco, Year 8 Homeroom Teachers

Year 9

Over the last two weeks, our Year 9 students have been completing their Careers Profiling. Following this, students will have an interview to discuss results (next term), career pathways and begin the discussion future goals.

A reminder that NAPLAN is quickly approaching. Here are a few strategies:

• Eliminate the clearly wrong answers.
• Find key words.
• Make connections to learning from class.
• Re-read questions.
• Check over your answers.

We would also like to acknowledge our students who are currently sitting at 100% attendance in our class. Well done to Chanelle, Chloe, Jade, Jason and Tyson. Your commitment to your study and schooling is really shining.

Our MY 9 Program is running smoothly with the students beginning their Duke Of Ed Skill, Physical and Volunteer component. Students have begun their work in our school garden and are looking forward to growing vegetables and flowers for the community.  

School Fete Activity: This year, our activities for the fete are a Hair Salon and Chocolate Lob. Please remember to bring in some chocolates/lollipops for prizes.

Miss Milne, Miss Van De Wetering and Ms Herrington, Year 9 Homeroom Teachers

Year 11 & 12 

The term is ticking along for our senior students who are absorbed in a range of activities both at school and in the community. On Thursday 23rd February, the Year 12 students received a visit from Chris Earl, the Editor of the Loddon times, who interviewed them about their wonderful VCE rugby tops. The students are proud of this new addition to their uniform which includes Indigenous artwork by ex-student Rebecca Wearne. A photo of the students in their tops appeared in the last addition of the Loddon Times. 

The Year 12 English class have been studying an Australian novel entitled “Nine Days” and are going to sit their first SAC for English next week.  Students have been involved in stimulating and robust discussion regarding the issues explored in the text and are busily preparing to construct an analytical essay under exam conditions in response to a question on the text. 

The Vocational Major students are once again undertaking work placements as part of their course and they are enjoying the opportunity to get out into the workplace for some practical learning. Today we are featuring two VM students who have two work placements each. Nathan Crow-Williams is working on two separate farms in the area. He works on Wednesdays with local farmer Stephen Poole and Thursdays and Fridays he is working for Chris and Greg Hargreaves. Nathan completes a range of general farming tasks such as feeding sheep and is very much looking forward to doing tractor work in the near future. His plan is to apply for a job in farming in the near future. 

Conrad Sugden works on Wednesdays at Wedderburn Hardware serving customers and shelf stocking. On Thursdays he is working at the Loddon Shire in the mechanics area. He is involved in the service and repair of vehicles as well as roadside repairs and general workshop tidying when there is time. Conrad has an extended work placement coming up in the near future at O’Connors in St Arnaud and is hoping to become a mechanic when he finishes his schooling. Both boys said that they appreciate the opportunity to work outside of the school setting and pick up industry skills in the workplace. 

Mrs. Ritchie, Mrs Woodman and Mr Gretgrix, Year 11 & 12 Homerooms Teachers

Most Valuable Person Awards - Week 5 

Other MVP Awardees 

Charlie Kompar, Meika Collins, Maora Pambudi and Sophie.

Everyday Counts

For the remainder of this term, Wedderburn College Wellbeing Professional Learning Communities - PLC,  will have a main focus on attendance, particularly for our Year 8, 9 and VCE students. 

Why it’s important

We all want our students to get a great education, and the building blocks for a great education begin with students coming to school each and every day. Students develop good habits by going to school every day – habits that are necessary to succeed after school, whether in the workplace or in further study. Missing school can have a big impact on students academically and socially. It can affect their test results, including VCE, and, just as importantly, it can affect their relationships with other students, and lead to social isolation. There is no safe number of days for missing school – each day a student misses puts them behind, and can affect their educational outcomes. Each missed day is associated with falling behind in subject topics and assessment tasks, and lead to fewer subject choices and may impact on achievement in years 11 and 12 and post-school pathways.

Parents, guardians, and caregivers of these year levels should expect contact from Homeroom teachers if their student is absent from school on any particular day. 

Wellbeing PLC Team 

Compass

Don't wait for the end of semester to view your child's progress. Log in to Compass and view teacher feedback and feed forward at any time by checking out your child's Learning Tasks. Children also receive regular (every 5 weeks) progress reports on their Organisation, Behaviour, Attitude to Learning and Work Completion. Learning Tasks and Reports can be found on you child's profile page.